As the U.S. State Department proceeds with a special review of the Obama administration's handling of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline proposal, pipes for the project are already being delivered south of the border.

Truckloads of pipe from Canada are arriving daily in Gascoyne, N.D., where they are being stockpiled, Radio-Canada reporter Marc Godbout reported Monday.

A Radio-Canada video shows trucks carrying pipeline sections . Gascoyne is just across the state line from Baker, Mon., one of six states through which the 2,736-kilometre pipeline would run.

Radio-Canada attempted to speak with the Canadian supplier of the pipeline sections and with TransCanada. Both firms declined the request for on-camera interviews.

It starts out as one of those nagging feelings in the back of your mind.

There’s something wrong here. Something very wrong. But, you keep your mouth shut. You just can’t quite put two and two together. If you criticize the action, you risk a rabid response of being an apologist and a supporter of an accused mass murderer.

Yet, that nagging feeling persists. There’s something very wrong here. Osama Bin Laden is dead. As he should be. But, it just doesn’t mesh with what we’ve been told for our entire lives about how things are supposed to work. The accused are always supposed to be afforded a trial, where they may confront the evidence and witnesses against them.

Then at 5:00am on a Saturday morning, it hits you like a pitcher of cold water, rousing you from a dead sleep.

After World War II, captured Nazi officials and officers were captured and put on trial at Nuremburg. Many were hanged, and others got long prison sentences. But, that’s not the point here.

After the war, a high ranking official named Adolph Eichmann escaped arrest and fled to South America. this was a man, whose bureaucratic efficiency in genocide made Osama Bin Laden look like a rank amateur. He sent millions to their deaths like clockwork. And he was frustrated that he wasn’t killing enough Jews.

The Mossad tracked Eichmann down in Argentina in 1960. They tracked his routine and his movements for weeks. An assassination would have been fairly easy for experienced commandos. Eichmann had a standard routine. He took the bus to and from work each day, and had a walk of several blocks, in the dark, to reach his home. A knife in the back, or a couple of silenced .22 cal slugs in the back of the head, and vengeance is taken.

But, the Israeli’s knew they had a teachable moment here. Drag him back to Israel, and put him on public trial for his crimes. Let the world see first hand what a monster was lurking in their midst.

They did, and they hung him. The teachable lesson was, that the rule of law can prevail. Criminals can be brought to justice the right way. Even executed for their crimes.

Now, back to this week. We tracked down Osama Bin Laden to a villa in Pakistan. We monitored the situation from a safe house for months. We sent a team of commandos in, who encountered little resistance, and according to recent accounts, shot and killed Bin Laden. We then flew the body out and tossed it into the sea.

Now what type of an international precedent did we just set? We just told the whole world, that the rule of law does not apply, as far as we’re concerned. It’s like the International Conventions Against Torture. That law is in place to protect our soldiers in case of capture. And we agree to abide by it to avoid retaliation.

Now, just suppose that the Vietnamese, or the Cambodians, or the Timorese, or especially the Chileans, decided to issue a warrant for crimes against humanity against Henry Kissinger. If we fail to turn him over for trial, are they justified in assassinating him?

Suppose a new Iraqi government wants George W. Bush? Suppose Nicaragua decides it would like to hold a trial for Oliver North, John Poindexter, or Elliot Abrams?

Suppose that a dictator like Augusto Pinochet wanted to put Orlando Letelier on trial for trumped up charges? Would that lead to car bombs going off in Washington DC? Oh, wait.

And that’s where that nagging feeling comes from. This isn’t what my country is supposed to be about. We’re supposed to be better than that. We’re supposed to be a beacon of freedom and the rule of law. Not a rogue state that takes the law into it’s own hands.

We’re not supposed to be the new Pinochet. If Israel could afford Eichmann a trial, we should have at least tried to do the same.

I spent a good time last night, and all day today fighting and arguing with Wells Fargo over a forced place flood insurance policy, and why my mortgage payment, although early the entire payment went for interest.

Wachovia was actually a pleasure to do business with until they were bought by WF. So after fighting with these pirates all day, I sat down and googled "class action lawsuits against Wells Fargo".

Lookie what I found. I'm waiting for the lawyer to return my call.--------------------------------------------------------------------------

On April 7, 2011, Plaintiff Desiree Morris filed a class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc., in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Pennsylvania. The lawsuit alleges that Wells Fargo purchased excessive flood insurance for Morris, accepted a commission for purchasing this unnecessary insurance, and then charged Morris for the favor. “Not only did Wells Fargo illegally buy the insurance, it took a commission for doing so,” said Plaintiff’s attorney Kai Richter.

According to the Complaint, Wells Fargo unlawfully required Morris to carry flood insurance in an amount nearly $100,000 greater than her loan balance, contrary to the terms of her mortgage agreement and federal law (which only requires borrowers to obtain flood insurance in an amount sufficient to cover their principal balance, where they live in a designated flood zone). Although Morris already carried flood insurance sufficient to cover her principal balance, the lawsuit alleges that Wells Fargo purchased a second policy for Morris’ property out of her escrow account, without her consent, at her expense. The lawsuit further alleges that Wells Fargo admittedly purchased this “force-placed” coverage through an affiliate insurance agency (Wells Fargo Insurance, Inc.), and reaped kickbacks, commissions, or other compensation for Wells Fargo and its affiliate insurance agency in the process.

In her class action Complaint, Morris seeks relief on behalf of herself and other borrowers across the country who have been similarly affected by Wells Fargo’s alleged conduct. Based on this alleged conduct, Plaintiff’s Complaint asserts that Wells Fargo violated the Truth and Lending Act (TILA), Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (PAUTP-CPL). In addition, the Complaint alleges that Wells Fargo breached its contracts with borrowers and breached its fiduciary duties to borrowers in connection with the handling of escrow funds.

“In today’s economic environment, many homeowners are struggling to make their mortgage payments, and it is wrong for Wells Fargo to add to their burden by demanding excessive amounts of flood insurance that exceed Wells Fargo’s interest in their property, exceed federal requirements, and exceed the amount of insurance that borrowers agreed to carry when they originated their loans,” said Richter. “It is particularly egregious that Wells Fargo is accepting commissions or other compensation in connection with force-placed coverage,” continued Richter.

The case is entitled Morris v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., et al., No. 2:11-cv-00474-DSC (W.D.Pa.). Plaintiff is represented by Kai Richter, Paul Lukas, Michelle Drake, Rebekah Bailey, and Charles Frohman from Nichols Kaster, PLLP. Nichols Kaster has offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California, and is currently pursuing similar cases against JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Bank of America, N.A. Additional information is located at http://www.nka.com or may be obtained by calling Nichols Kaster, PLLP toll free at (877) 448-0492.

###

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OK, he just called me back. I'm faxing everything to them this evening.

As if you ever really need an excuse to boycott Walmart. These fascist billionaires are making their final assault on the American working class. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Behind Michigan's "Financial Martial Law": Corporations and Right-Wing BillionairesThe think tank that inspired Gov. Rick Snyder's controversial bill is bankrolled by some of the same donors that funded Wisconsin's attack on unions.

Last week, Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed into law a fiercely contested bill giving unelected "emergency financial managers" unprecedented power to shred union contracts, privatize city services, and consolidate or dissolve local governments, all in the name of saving struggling cities and school districts. Dubbed "financial martial law" by one approving state GOP lawmaker and "disaster capitalism" by critics, Snyder and his bill have become a target for Wisconsin-like protests. Several thousand demonstrators marched on the Michigan Capitol in the days before Snyder signed the bill. But gone unmentioned is a little-known Michigan think tank that for years has been pushing for the most controversial provisions in Snyder's bill—and that's bankrolled by some of the same right-wing millionaires and billionaires that backed Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his anti-union legislation.

Since 2005, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has urged reforms to Michigan law giving more power and protection to emergency financial managers, state-appointed officials who parachute into ailing cities or school districts and employ drastic measures to fix budgets on the brink of collapse. In January, the free-market-loving center published four recommendations, including granting emergency managers the power to override elected officials (such as a mayor or school board member) and toss out union contracts. All four ended up in Snyder's legislation.

(snip)

Mackinac is part of a network of state-based groups associated with the Heritage Foundation, the influential right-wing think tank in Washington. Its past and present board members include Robert Teeter, a GOP strategist and '92 campaign manager for George H.W. Bush; Margaret Rieker, a former vice chairwoman of the Republican National Committee; and Joseph Lehman, a former vice president at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.

The Mackinac Center does not disclose its donors. But a review of tax records shows that the group's funders include the charitable foundations of the nation's largest corporations and a host of wealthy conservative and libertarian benefactors. Between 2002 and 2009, the Mackinac Center's donors included the Charles G. Koch Foundation ($69,151), founded by the chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, who, with his brother, David, is a major backer of conservative causes; the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation ($80,000), the charity tied to the son of the co-founder of Amway, the multibillion-dollar direct marketing company; the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, established by the parents of Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who serves as the foundation's vice president ($195,000); and the Walton Family Foundation ($100,000), established by Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and his wife, Helen.

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